A filmmaker and Artificial Intelligence (AI) system designer, Mr Onu Abrahams, has urged the Federal Government to prioritise infrastructure, research and development, and local ownership of technology to accelerate Nigeria’s technological development.
Abrahams made the call in an interview with reporters in Abuja as part of activities marking Nigeria’s 66th Independence Anniversary.
He identified the development of a strong pool of software engineers, founders, designers and other technology professionals as one of Nigeria’s major achievements since independence.
He said Nigerians had built successful fintech companies, digital payment systems and other technology businesses that operate beyond the country.
“So yes, that’s our biggest achievement, proving that Nigerians can actually build world-class technology,” he said.
Abrahams said Nigeria was gradually moving from merely consuming technology to building with it, particularly in fintech, software, digital payments and AI.
“What gives me confidence is that we are gradually moving from just consuming technology to actually building with it.
“You can see it in fintech, software and digital payments and now AI. Capacity is growing,” he said.
He, however, said the next challenge was to translate the growing talent and capacity into deeper technological ownership.
Abrahams identified inadequate infrastructure as one of the major challenges slowing technology development in the country.
He cited unreliable electricity, expensive internet and computing infrastructure, limited access to capital, and poor access to advanced technology as some of the constraints facing innovators.
“With AI specifically, access to Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), cloud computing and dependable data is still a challenge,” he said.
The expert said technology developers sometimes spent significant time overcoming basic infrastructure challenges before addressing the problems their innovations were designed to solve.
He, therefore, urged the Federal Government to prioritise reliable electricity, affordable internet, broadband and fibre infrastructure, as well as local data centres and computing facilities.
“Nigeria should prioritise infrastructure first, reliable electricity, affordable internet, affordable broadband, fibre, local data centres and affordable computing.
“We can train millions of programmers, but if the infrastructure they need to build on belongs almost entirely outside the country, they will continue to be dependent on foreign technology,” he said.
Abrahams also called for increased investment in research and development to enable Nigeria to move beyond the use of existing technologies.
“Personally, I would say we should prioritise research and development.
“We have to move beyond teaching people how to use existing technology. We need more people building AI models, hardware, cybersecurity systems, robotics and cloud infrastructure,” he said.
He said Nigeria’s major technological goal should be to create and own critical technologies rather than merely operate technologies developed elsewhere.
Abrahams said achieving the goal would require sustained investment in research, computing capacity and digital infrastructure.
He also called for the creation of a stronger market for locally developed technologies to encourage innovators and technology companies to build and expand their operations in Nigeria.
“First of all, you need to invest seriously in research, in compute and digital infrastructure.
“Secondly, we need to create a stronger market for locally developed technology.
“Thirdly, we need to create and maintain stable policies at the government level, policies that allow technology companies to invest and plan long term,” he said.
Abrahams said Nigeria already possessed the talent required to develop globally competitive technologies, but infrastructure, research investment and policy stability remained critical to unlocking that potential.
He said strengthening those areas would help the country reduce its dependence on foreign technology and increase local ownership of strategic technologies.
